Proper Hygiene and environmental health sanitation is nothing to write home about in most markets in Nigeria. One can see foodstuffs being sold behind refuse dumping areas as well as dirty and filled up gutters.
This is the sad reality of most markets in the country and for decades both the federal government and state governments as well have been battling with getting traders in the markets to comply with the appropriate laws.
In a bid to keep Anambra State clean and healthy, the state government on Friday, sealed a foodstuffs market in the state called, Uwa Mgbede.
This particular market is a very popular one in the state and it is located along the Onitsha-Owerri expressway. The market is always filled up with buyers and one can find rice, beans,yam, garri, fish, vegetables, pepper, meat and other food items in the Market. However, they do not oblige to environmental sanitation laws. They sell in unapproved spaces, they also sell around unkempt and littered gutters and keep a dirty environment in general.
Therefore, the state government has sealed up the market. This was carried out by the Managing Director of the “Operation Clean and Healthy Anambra Brigade”, Celestine Anere.
Explaining in details why the market was sealed, Celestine Anere stated that “The market was sealed off for various environmental contraventions such as unapproved location, filthy environment, blocked and littered drainages, illegal and indiscriminate parking and abandonment of trucks on the major road, among others.
“Traders should use the various approved markets by the state government which are secured and off the roads for their safety and betterment.
“This is to warn traders constituting self-markets without approval from the state government. Anyone caught will have his or herself to be blamed.”
Nevertheless, this action has led to various reactions as the traders in Uwa Mgbede market bemoaned that they were not given any warning prior to this.
One of trades Joseph Ukonne argued that “This market has existed for over 20 years. The traders don’t constitute any environmental hazard because we clear the drainage system every week and sweep the environment at the end of each business activity everyday.”